CONNEAUT —
City officials in Conneaut are working to put the clamps on costly false alarms and excessive calls that originate from the same address.
At Tuesday night's meeting of City Council's public safety committee, chairman and Ward 4 Councilman Thomas Kozesky said dozens of unnecessary calls cause wear-and-tear on fire and police equipment and run up fuel bills. Bogus or repetitive calls also expose safety personnel to accidents and compromise coverage in other parts of town, officials said.
Administrators are looking at legislation that could assess fines for repeat offenders.
All would be forgiven for the first incident, while a second occurrence could result in a letter from the city, Kozesky said. "You probably wouldn't be fined until the third or consecutive (infractions)," he said.
Over the past several months, the police department has answered 128 false alarms while the fire department has responded to 88 such alarms, the fire calls coming primarily from Conneaut Manor on Harbor Street and the senior citizen building at Highland Apartments.
In many cases, the false alarms result from equipment malfunctions which can be corrected, council members learned.
Safety departments are also dealing with excessive calls from the same address, often for reasons that don't require emergency response. "Some people call non-stop," said Police Chief Charles Burlingham.
There are people and businesses in town who don't hesitate to call for assistance on matters they could handle on their own, said City Manager Tim Eggleston. "Excessive calls falls under the category of abuse," he said.
Law Director David Schroeder said the city must be careful when detailing the difference between calls. "How do you define a nuisance or excessive call?" he said.
Eggleston said the legislation isn't geared to make money but to "nip some problems in the bud."
Ashtabula has a good ordinance dealing with the issue that Conneaut should study, Kozesky said. "It seems to be working well for them," he said.
In other business, administrators say they will study a possible problem with price-gouging involving a wrecker service periodically used by the police department. One operator apparently charges a rate twice that of other businesses on the department's tow list, Burlingham said.
The city will see if price controls, along with some other requirements, can be legislated.
"There's got to be some reasonability to it," he said.
Barry Goodrich, warden at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution, was scheduled to address the committee Tuesday, but did not appear.
Local News
Conneaut plagued by high cost of false alarms
- Local News
-
-
Conneaut man accused of using duct tape to secure girlfriend
A Conneaut man face charges after he reportedly used duct tape to lash his combative girlfriend to a pole in the basement of their Sandusky Street home, police said.
-
FirstEnergy seeks reason for massive Ashtabula County power outage
Humid weather may have played a role in a malfunction that shut down electrical service to a large chunk of Ashtabula County late Tuesday morning, officials said.
-
Ashtabula County I-90 speed limit jumps to 70 mph July 1
As promised, the speed limit on Interstate 90 that bisects Ashtabula County will jump in little more than a month, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.
-
Ashtabula City Council says no to multi-unit apartments
After a passionate hour of debate at a public hearing Monday night, City Council unanimously voted against approving zoning changes at 1936 Carpenter Road.
-
Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame adds one of first African-American U.S. Marines from Ashtabula
One of the first African-American U.S. Marines, 70 years after his service in World War II, has been selected for the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.
-
Chardon school shooting victims’ families sue charity
Relatives of three teenagers killed in a northeast Ohio school shooting filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a charity that maintains a trust fund set up first to benefit the victims’ families and also to support the well-being of students and others in the affected community.
-
GOTL gets ‘likeable’ on Facebook
Village police officers are taking a new approach to an old problem — finding wanted criminals.
-
New facility in Ashtabula Plaza offers digital X-rays, ultrasounds
People needed an X-ray need not look far, thanks to University Hospitals’ new, state-of-the-art imaging facility at UH Ashtabula Health Center, 2131 Lake Ave., in the Ashtabula Plaza.
-
Stretch of Rt. 193 open, another to close
A section of Route 193 in Sheffield and Kingsville townships closed for repairs has reopened, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s District Four office in Akron.
-
Ashtabula Brass Band presents free concert tonight
The Ashtabula Brass Band will present a free spring concert at 7 tonight in the auditorium at Kent State University Ashtabula.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Conneaut man accused of using duct tape to secure girlfriend
